Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher (born 13 October 1925) was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She made history in being the first and only woman to be Prime Minister. A staunch Conservative who led her party to a series of landslides by preaching optimism and change, she weakened labour unions, privatised some industries, rejected Keynesian economic policies for the monetarism of Milton Friedman, and helped reinvigorate the British economy. In foreign policy she collaborated closely with American President Ronald Reagan, especially in his efforts to end the Cold War by working deals with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. After proposing a head tax that alienated voters, and continuing with a domineering style that alienated politicians, she was ousted from power in 1990 and took a peerage.

Life

She was born Margaret Roberts at Grantham, England, on October 13, 1925 to a middle class family. She won a scholarship to Oxford University, where she studied chemistry and became chairman of the Conservative Association, graduating in 1947. She worked as a chemist until her marriage in 1951 to Denis Thatcher, a businessman. She qualified as a lawyer in 1953 and then practiced as a tax specialist